When Program Seeks To Help The Needy, Church Responds

SUFFIELD — Elizabeth Maguire, the town social worker, has been adopted -- by a local church whose members are helping less fortunate families in town through her.

Members of Second Baptist Church on North Main Street are helping local residents and their children through a program called Covenant to Care Inc. The Bloomfield-based interfaith ministry links local congregations with social workers.

Maguire, who works out of a small room in the basement of town hall, said the arrangement has been helpful. Instead of calling different places for help when one of her clients has a need, she phones the church and the congregation responds.

``It gives me a direct connection to resources to help people in need,'' she said. ``They will do what they can.''

There are five local families that the church members are called on to help regularly, she said.

Sometimes, the needs vary from diapers to rides to the doctor's office. Recently, the church collected 38 backpacks and filled them with notebooks, pencils and other school supplies.

At the church, two rooms are filled with clothing for women, men and children. Pretty toddler dresses and like-new sweaters are on hangers waiting for a new owner.

Dorothy Knowlton, a mission committee member for the church, said the church's belief is that charity should not take away dignity, so the items have no holes or stains. Church volunteers sort the items and fix items that need mending. Church volunteers and Maguire then arrange to have items delivered.

The mission committee had been helping Hartford families through the Covenant to Care program, but the distance made helping difficult. In February, they agreed to take on Maguire and local residents. Still, the church does outreach work with Hartford shelters and a soup kitchen, the Suffield and Enfield visiting nurse associations, and the Enfield-based Network Against Domestic Abuse.

Knowlton said church members are inspired by the Rev. Paul C. Hayes, minister of Second Baptist, who gave a sermon about a certain retired Catholic priest. The priest made sandwiches and coffee to feed the poor in a park. After a newspaper published his story, the priest received donations. He turned the donations away, Knowlton said, because he wanted the donors to do good deeds themselves. The priest told them to ``do your own work,'' Knowlton said.

``Covenant to Care is a good way to reach out,'' she said.

The congregation responds quickly to calls. Items are listed on the church bulletin. Donors came up with bicycles, blankets, food and money to buy a specific item that was requested such as a baby crib mattress, she said.

Most social workers don't have the space to store donated items. With two rooms of donations, Knowlton said the church hopes to build a place where those in need can browse in privacy.

``We need to know our community, because a lot of times people think Avon, Simsbury and Suffield don't need anything,'' Knowlton said. But with the state of the economy, Knowlton adds that that isn't true: ``There are the poor.''